UMULATI VE experience since the Prohibition Act was written into the fundamental law of the land as the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, has proved that the tremendous benefits to the nation, to the community, and to the individual are to-day increasing in all expected and many unexpected ways. A nation-wide survey of the effects in their economic, social, and moral aspects which have followed the operation of na- tional prohibition yields constantly grow- ing evidence of improving conditions in business, in politics, in family life, with labor, with employer, and with the coun- try as a whole. Savings bank investors have more than doubled in number since 1919; the saloon is no longer a political power in the community: more homes are being built; more employees are saving money and using it to economic advantage; 1 THE ADVANCE OF PROHIBITION real estate values are helped; constructive business is supplanting the destructive sa- loon, and the result of the entire process is the enhancement of national prosperity and happiness. This but partially tabulates the findings throughout the United States. Results of The Christian Science Monitor Survey F I chronicling almost daily the mounting advantages which have come with pro- hibition, The Christian Science Monitor has interviewed heads of organizations rep- resenting fully 14,000,000 Americans, compassing all sections of the United States. The results of these extensive in- quiries are significant and encouraging. The replies convincingly refute the propa- ganda of the liquor interests that the dry sentiment is waning or is about to collapse, and show that in reality prohibition and the growing popular appreciation of its benefits were never closer to the people than right now. The interviews also show that the influential voting citizen, who rep- resents the best element in the American public, believes that prohibition is an im- portant step in the right direction, and is 2 THE ADVANCE OF PROHIBITION determined not to risk losing its benefits by allowing adulterated or modified pro- hibition to be put over by any subterfuge of the organized wets. What Herbert Hoover Says H erbert hoover. United states Secretary of Commerce, who is ad- mittedly in a position of vantage to esti- mate accurately the economic value of prohibition, finds that the operation of the Volstead Act has already been preemi- nently successful. He said recently to a representative of The Christian Science Monitor:—- There can be no doubt of the economic benefits of prohibition. I think that increased temperance over the land is responsible for the enormously increased efficiency in produc- tion, which statistics gathered by the Depart- ment of Commerce show to have followed the passage of the law. Mr. Hoover pointed out that higher pro- ductivity, better movement of commod- ities, full employment, higher wages, greatly increased savings, and large addi- tions to home building have marked all of the prohibition years. 3 THE ADVANCE OF PROHIBITION Another Expert's View D r. THOMAS NIXON CARVER, na- tionally known economist, and pro- fessor at Harvard University, declares that national prohibition gives the people of the United States untold economic advan- tage over rival countries. He characterizes the use of intoxicating drink by any nation as a tremendous waste and warns that no land to-day can maintain its position in the progress of competing nations and be held back by the drag of intemperance. In a study which he has completed for the Encyclopedia Britannica, he says in part: — • So long as all the rival nations arc wast- ing resources and man-power in drink there may be no differential advantage in favor of any one or against any of the others; but when one nation, such as the United States, makes a definite advance in this form of econ- omy, unless it indulges in some folly that will neutralize the advantage thus gained, there is no reason to doubt it will gain on all others, year by year, decade by decade, and century by century, and eventually dominate the civiliza- tion of the world. They who refuse to take this great step forward in the economy of human resources, whether they understand it or not, are definitely choosing to occupy a secondary position in the civilized world. 4 THE ADVANCE OF PROHIBITION The Violator Is the Failure, Not Prohibi- tion, Says Henry Ford T he words of Henry Ford, in whose factories drinking of intoxicants in any form brings peremptory dismissal, carry increasing conviction of the success of the Eighteenth Amendment. The fol- lowing is from ”Mr. Ford's Page” in the Dearborn Independent : — The fact that a law is violated does not mean that that law is bad. Burglars consider that laws against house-breaking should never have been framed, gunmen are of the opinion that the statute which makes it an offense for them to take the lives of their fellow men is all wrong, and thugs in general are quite certain that their liberties are un- necessarily curtailed by legislation of any kind. Yet no one would assert that the burg- lar, the gunmen, and the thug are right. . . . After its five years of trial, prohibition is not a failure. It is the people who have neg- lected to correspond with it who are the fail- ures. If it took Christianity hundreds of years to obtain a footing, why should any- one consider five years sufficient for a try-out of the greatest reform since the introduction of Christianity itself? The good that has al- ready come from it infinitely outweighs the evils, and the evils that are do not arise from prohibition but the failure to practice it. 5 THE ADVANCE OF PROHIBITION A Foreigner's Estimate of Prohibition W ILLIAM PAXTON, Scottish writer and Fellow of the Royal Geograph- ical Society, concludes his recently pub- lished book, "The Truth About Prohibi- tion," with the following unqualified endorsement: — I believe that prohibition in the United States, in spite of the law-breakers, and the wealthy and unscrupulous people who en- courage law-breaking, is one of the most beneficial measures in the history of govern- ment; and I am confident that, with passing years and the rearing of a race that has never seen a saloon, America will give a lead to the whole world in solving one of the most difii- cult problems of modern times. Millions of Dollars Saved Yearly vIONG the many accomplishments which the report of the subcom- mittee on the alcoholic liquor traffic of the House of Representatives credits to prohi- bition is the fact that it "had enabled chari- table organizations to take $74,000,000 per year from funds formerly used to sup- port cases of drink-caused poverty, and use this money in constructive welfare work.” The report also declares that "La- 6 THE ADVANCE OF PROHIBITION bor is becoming a capitalist,” and explains that "this is not alone through the many great labor banks which are to-day play- ing a prominent part in financing indus- try, but also through individual purchases of corporation stock by employees, many of whom under the license system had no marginal funds to invest in anything.” Likewise does the House committee find that "the increase in the number of con- tracts for residential buildings has been record-breaking since the Eighteenth Amendment went into effect,” and that "the higher standards of living developed since prohibition have favorably affected both manufacture and distribution.” Signs of the Times HE 1925 International Convention of JL the World Woman's Christian Tem- perance Union, representing 750,000 women in fifty-one different countries, held in Edinburgh, stands as a prophetic indication of the cumulative sentiment in favor of prohibition in all nations. The reports from the fifty-one countries com- prised the most optimistic signs of a defi- nite trend toward dry legislation. Reso- 7 THE ADVANCE OF PROHIBITION lutions adopted at the close of the conven- tion based a forward-looking program on the ground that world democracy, world peace, world purity, and world patriotism demand the world-wide extinction of the liquor traffic. Of the success of prohibition in the United States Miss Anna Adams Gordon, president of the world organiza- tion and leader of the American delegation, said in part: — Prohibition has strengthened the moral, physical, financial, and spiritual fiber of our national life. Drinking has been reduced be- tween 70 and 80 per cent. For the last three or four years the New York City Salvation Army has had to give up its annual "Boozers" Day because there were not enough drunks on the street to make the gathering a success. Since the enactment of the Eighteenth Amendment arrests for drunkenness have been reduced more than one-half. Alcoholic in- sanity has been reduced 66 per cent annually. Inmates of county jails have been lessened 200,000 per year. Mortality rates have been lowered 1,000,000 over a period of three years. Homes are happier and children are healthier: streets are safer for the boys and girls; thousands of children who once would have supported drinking are now high school and college students. 8 THE ADVANCE OF PROHIBITION “General Conditions Steadily Improving” E xposing the fallacy using statistics from isolated groups in a vain attempt to build up a case against prohibition. Dr. George O’Hanlon, superintendent of the Bellevue and allied hospitals in New York City, declares in a statement to The Chris- tian Science Monitor that ’’general condi- tions, despite hospital tabulations on al- coholic admissions used by wets to dis- credit prohibition, are steadily improving.” Dr. O’Hanlon points out that from the wide experience he has had with cases of chronic alcoholism, he can see such cases virtually disappearing under the beneficial influence of national prohibition. He shows that hospital statistics represent only a segregated and unrepresentative minority and when distorted are not a reliable indi- cation of the success of the Eighteenth Amendment. He adds: — Prohibition not only has reduced the num- ber of patients sent to Bellevue Hospital for treatment for insanity caused by alcoholism, notwithstanding an upward turn in 1922, but also it has brought a marked change in the seriousness of most of the cases. We find that a large number of cases now are minor 9 THE ADVANCE OF PROHIBITION ones, involving treatment for a period of from a few days to a few weeks. They are mostly persons who have developed mental trouble as a result of drinking suddenly a great quantity of the stuff that at present passes for liquor. They are taken to the hos- pital for a few days or weeks, and then many of them, it has been reported to me, are all right again. That is bad enough, but it is vastly different from having these people go the way they formerly did — to an asylum for a few years or permanently. Suppose, for instance, that our hospital figures happen to indicate that during certain years since the Federal prohibition law be- came effective, first as a war-time measure when the United States troops were return- ing from overseas in 1919, and continued in January, 1920, as a permanent measure through the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution — suppose, I say, that our fig- ures show increased admissions of alcoholic cases in some years since 1919. That offers no ground upon which to base arguments against prohibition. "Most Trifling Percentage” What if Bellevue and its allied hospitals did admit more than 6000 such cases in 1924? What, after all, are 6000 persons, proportionately considered in these circum- stances, as compared to New York City’s population of about 6,000,000? A most trifiing percentage, after all. 10 THE ADVANCE OF PROHIBITION President Coolidge on Law Observance I N his inaugural address of March 4, 1925, President Coolidge especially em- phasized the demand and obligation which rests upon every citizen to observe the laws of the land. He made clear his opinion that those who desire to have their own rights respected must set the example of law obe- dience to others. He says further: — In a republic the first rule for the guid- ance of the citizen is obedience to law. Under a despotism the law may be imposed upon the subject. He has no voice in its making, no influence in its administration, it does not represent him. Under a free government the citizen makes his own laws, chooses his own administrators, which do represent him. Those who want their rights respected under the Constitution and the law ought to set the example themselves of observing the Constitution and the laws. While there may be those of high intelligence who violate the law at times, the barbarian and the defective always violate it. Those who disregard the rules of society are not exhibiting a superior intelligence, are not promoting freedom and independence, are not following the path of civilization, but are displaying the traits of ignorance, of servitude, of savagery, and treading the way that leads back to the jungle. 11 THE ADVANCE OF PROHIBITION A Changed Opinion A fter saying, "I am one of those who L were opposed to prohibition,” Horace D. Taft, headmaster of Taft School, Wa- tertown, Connecticut, and brother of Wil- liam H. Taft, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, in a recent state- ment concludes; — I believe that any fair-minded man, be he wet or dry, who will study the whole ques- tion, will come to the conclusion that we might as well try to reverse the direction of the rapids at Niagara as to reverse the delib- erate verdict of the American people on this question. Enormous good has followed the adoption of prohibition. Prohibition Backing Increasing R ecognizing more and more the accumulating advantages which na- tional prohibition is bringing to the United States, the American public is preponder- ately and unequivocably backing the Eighteenth Amendment. An important contribution to the proof of this observa- tion is contained in the great volume of letters which the Manufacturers Record re- ceived in its second nation-wide survey of opinion on prohibition. 12 THE ADVANCE OF PROHIBITION Leading manufacturers, bankers, mer- chants, railway presidents, university pro- fessors, lawyers — men who are leaders in the industrial and professional life of the nation — joined in emphatically expressing their conviction of the increasing merits of prohibition. Says the Manufacturers Record : — We confess that the replies as a whole have surprised us. We thought that possi- bly here and there some men might have changed their opinion, but the overwhelm- ing testimony is in favor of prohibition and a more drastic enforcement of these laws. Up to the moment that this editorial is written only two replies out of a hundred or more had been received advocating mod- eration of the law: all others are strongly in favor of prohibition, giving their reasons therefor, and saying that they had seen no reason for changing their previously ex- pressed view in favor of prohibition. This is far and away, in our opinion, the most important symposium which has ever been published on the prohibition question. It will inevitably have a world- wide effect, for the nations of the world are studying the prohibition question as they never did before. The combined liquor interests of the world are trying to break down prohibition in America, using their utmost power to influence public opin- ion for this purpose. 13 THE ADVANCE OF PROHIBITION Record Proves Its Case A n interesting development emphasizing . still further the depth and sincerity of prohibition sentiment in the United States followed the publication of results of the Manufacturers Record’s undertaking. The imputation was made in certain quarters that the authors of the letters were insin- cere and were not personally abstainers. Immediately the editors of the magazine recovered the same ground, and confirmed every letter. "Not only have the replies to the slander that these men were themselves violating the law shown a remarkable unanimity of opinion in regard to the necessity of every- one obeying the law, but they further stress with unusual emphasis the great benefits derived under prohibition, from the eco- nomic as well as from the moral stand- point, even in the face of inadequate law enforcement,” the editors of the Record declared. "These letters have come from men whose standing in the professional and business world no one can question; they emphasize more forcibly than has ever 14 THE ADVANCE OF PROHIBITION been done before, because such an oppor- tunity was never before presented, their own strict obedience to the prohibition laws.” Dr. Henry Louis Smith, president of Washington and Lee University, wrote as follows in his reply : — I am now and have been all my life a voluntary, rigid, and enthusiastic teetotaler. My hearty approbation of prohibition and my sincere belief in the magnificent experi- ment undertaken by the moral forces of American civilization are convictions and attitudes entirely independent of my per- sonal habits in this respect. To my mind the most forceful advocate of prohibition is the hopeless and helpless inebriate who in- sists on voting for prohibition that his fellow citizens of like weakness may not fall into the pit which has engulfed him. Continuance of national prohibition without modification of the present stat- utes is urged by Elbert H. Gary, chair- man of the United States Steel Corpora- tion. He says:— Since giving you an opinion which was published about three years ago, I have not changed nor modified my views in regard to prohibition. I am more and more satisfied that the prohibition legislation should have 15 THE ADVANCE OF PROHIBITION been passed and continued without amend- ment, and that it should be more rigidly imposed. I am also satisfied from experience it is a good thing for this country. In conclusion several salient facts stand out. The country has voted prepon- derately dry, and the constantly increas- ing benefits of prohibition are deepening this conviction. The press of the nation is prcponderately dry. Congress is pre- ponderately dry. The full strength of the dry forces of the United States must re- main mobilized, however, to combat the last-stand efforts of the minority of organ- ized wets to bring back liquor. Adequate enforcement so that the full measure of benefit which accompanies prohibition may be realized is the pressing need, and demands the support of every law-abiding citizen. Published by The Christian Science Publishing Society Back Bay Station Boston, Massachusetts, U. S. A, 16 V v: V ' [Printed in U. S. A.]